1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing a p-type zinc oxide film using arc plasma.
2. Description of the Related Art
Zinc oxide (ZnO) has very high possibilities as a safe and inexpensive semiconductor material, but the synthesis of p-type zinc oxide is known to be difficult. Film formation methods through molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), pulse laser deposition (PLD) or the like have hitherto been proposed as methods for producing p-type zinc oxide, but involve the problem of difficulty in forming films having a large area.
On the other hand, methods for synthesizing p-type zinc oxide powder through the use of arc discharge and methods for producing light emitting devices using the same are known. For example, Patent Document 1 (JP4072620B) discloses a method for producing nitrogen-doped p-type zinc oxide ultrafine particles by evaporating zinc using arc discharge in an oxygen-nitrogen gas mixture atmosphere having a gas pressure of, for example, 20×103 Pa. Also, Patent Document 2 (JP2008-244387A) discloses a light emitting device using nitrogen-doped p-type zinc oxide crystal grains, and these p-type zinc oxide crystal grains are also prepared by evaporating zinc using arc discharge in an oxygen-nitrogen gas mixture atmosphere having a gas pressure of, for example, 20×103 Pa.